Archive for the ‘Woodside’ Category

Spotted this frozen over vehicle on Woodside Avenue, near its intersection with Northern Blvd. just the other day. The entire thing seemed to be encased in about an eight of an inch of clear ice. Fascinating, at least to me.

Back on Monday with something a bit meatier for you to bite into Lords and Ladies.

On the 4th, my neighbors Mario and Dario and I climbed up the little ladder which leads up to the roof hatch and surmounted our building. Arriving up at tar beach, we discovered that just about everyone else in Astoria had the same idea. Our view of the horizon and the Macy’s Fireworks show on the East River was hopelessly occluded, but who needs Manhattan’s little spectacle?

Queens never disappoints.

- photo by Mitch Waxman

Off in the direction of Old Astoria, where the Triboro and Hells Gate Bridges can be found, the neighborhood was oddly quiet. There were the occasional detonations, as pictured above, but by Astoria standards – not too much was going on.

- photo by Mitch Waxman

It was the to southeast where the action was going on, and it seemed that Woodside was competing with Sunnyside and Maspeth from my vantage point.

Perpetual darkness is the lot of this lonely firebox, found over on the outskirts of Woodside. Apartment monoliths on one side, highways on the other, it seems to be in a delitorious state of repair as evinced by the way its alarm handle is deployed. Better days await us all, my friends, better days spent gamboling about in the sunny corridors of Queens.

Repent! is something which one has always wanted to shout at strangers, whilst wearing a sandwich board that proclaims dire future times and the arrival of an era of tribulation. A declaration of steadfast faith is what that would be, and I don’t really believe in anything except Superman, so my argument for repentance would hardly be convincing unless it involved Braniac. These are all imaginary characters, of course, so my supposition is silly.

Looking out my Astoria apartment’s window on Christmas Eve, this imaginary character was observed moving casually down the avenue towards the subway. Perhaps steadfast faith in not believing in anything is as silly as believing in Father Christmas or Braniac, especially when one of them walks past your house?

- photo by Mitch Waxman

The little break enjoyed over the last couple of weeks has been refreshing, if fattening.

Ribald Christmas gatherings and feasts have been attended, and all met have been basted with cheery sentiment and seasonally appropriate call and response exchanges (merry christmas, happy new year, kwazy kwaanza etc.). Fear that my disingenuous lack of holiday spirit was apparent to all manifests in me, but what can one such as myself say to such accusation, other than stating that I do not - in fact - care?

- photo by Mitch Waxman

Not too much of interest passed before me, at least that was worth photographing.

This giant pile of blood appeared in my path just last week, across the street from Doughboy Park in Woodside. Could have been a bloody nose, I suppose. Stab, maybe? I’ll get the boys in forensics on it when they’re back next week.

Speaking of Doughboy Park,(I’m talking to you George the Atheist) weren’t they supposed to repaint that day glow green stuff which appeared here last year?

- photo by Mitch Waxman

I have no information on the blood, other than it tasted like Type A and whoever spilled it really needs to cut down on the fried food. The flavor profile was quite salty/fatty, and it smelled like freedom fries, but the stuff had a nice mouth feel to it.

Packer trucks are what the garbage guys call vehicles like the familiar DSNY conveyances. Municipal vehicles whose ubiquity and constant presence renders them nearly invisible, they hide in plain sight, and most of us only notice them when they don’t show up or if we are instead stuck behind them in traffic. An archive shot, I acquired this one nearby Queens Blvd. at the border of Woodside.